Losers in five of their last six games, the Nats try to get back on track tonight.

The Nationals' upcoming schedule isn't very kind. They've got four games this weekend against the World Series champion Giants (with Tim Lincecum slated to pitch Friday's opener). Then a nine-game road trip to Philadelphia, Florida and Atlanta, three locales that haven't been so kind to these guys over the years.

The next two evenings against the Mets, then, start looking really important. After dropping last night's game 6-4, the Nats can ill afford another loss that would drop them to three games under .500.

Tom Gorzelanny, still in search of his first win with the Nationals, gets the ball against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Jim Riggleman is sticking with his same lineup from last night, including rookie catcher Wilson Ramos (who is starting his third straight game for the first time).

Should be interesting. How well I remember when JZimm faced RA Dickey in the Mets home opener and the Nats won 6-2. JZimm and Pudge both had 2-run singles and the other two RBI's went to Desmond on a FC groundout and to Morse on a bases loaded walk. I think Ankiel and Espinosa both had multiple hit games but I'm not sure. I remember thinking we needed a hitting coach to teach our guys to hit knuckleballs.So perhaps JZimm and Pudge are good candidates to pinch hit tonight.Off to the game. Go Ramos! Go Nats!

@ JaneB, no it is the curse of Fantasy League. As soon as I added a Nats player to my fantasy team, they start to suck.Very few people around tonight.Anyways, two on and no outs for Mets in top of the ninth.

FS, as soon as I buy or have a Nats shirt made, the player leaves. Or has his number changed. So I've sworn off shirts for Nats, even though I really want a Livo shirt. Maybe you should swear of fantasy Nats. :-)Oh Sean, not your night.

That Willie Harris bunt should have been fielded by Hairston at 3rd for an out. At least you get 1 out there. 2 outs with the Sac Fly and you get out with a tie game.These Veterans don't play like they have been there before.

I wish we could ask the questions during the post game.1. Riggs, why Burnett over Storen?Probable answer…well, Burnie has been good for us all year and did a good job, he just had a few bad bounces. 2. Riggs, after the first 2 hits, why not make the move to Storen?3. Riggs, how did it feel to have all of your offensive weapons used up when you needed them?

The Phils are 16-8. We are 10-13 after tonight's disaster. This entire season will be an exhibition show, where no one really cares if the Nats win or lose on a given night. It is April 27th, 2011, and the Nationals' season is COMPLETELY over.

Yep JaneB, dropping Danny as soon as the week is over. The problem is there is a dearth of 2B around league.I am not watching the game but shouldn't this loss be Burnett's 'fault'? I don't see anything wrong with Riggleman's any decisions tonight. His team is performing like crap, that's about it. What we need right now is a walk-off grand slam by Justin Maxwell.

The Washington Nationals: Making me give up and actually look forward to Redskins draft day since 2005. It's hard enough living in NYC, but these guys make me actually get mocked by Mets fans. METS FANS! Fire everyone involved with this loser organization except Zimmerman, Strasburg, Harper and Ramos. Except Zim is getting the F out of this place in 2013. Good luck in Boston, big guy.

Burnett should be pitching the eight, Storen the 9th.I think Storen's ready now for the full time closer job.I'm not really worried about Burnett. Just a very bad time to implode. They really needed a win tonight

Anonymous8 said… That Willie Harris bunt should have been fielded by Hairston at 3rd for an out. At least you get 1 out there. 2 outs with the Sac Fly and you get out with a tie game.These Veterans don't play like they have been there before. April 27, 2011 10:29 PM __________________________________That sums it up well. Plenty of mental mistakes in this one and hindsight being 20/20 obviously Burnett starting the inning vs. Bay is a head scratcher.

The Nats blow another season ….and we are not out of April ……what is Stairs now 0 for 15 ……errors all over the place …..no hits when it counts ……. it all feels just like the last 5 years BTW is not the payroll on this team less this year then last and the lowest since 2005 …..

You can argue that if our team is going by closer-by-committee approach, they should have gone with Storen in the ninth against Bay. But once Burnett was in, you do not take out your closer after two hits.Anyways, what is more annoying than the loss are the stupid comments written by anonymous users.

Well, I'm glad the season is over. Maybe these crybaby losers will go the beach, and stay there. Listening to this team grow will be SO much more enjoyable, without the childish whining….. Do your mothers know you carry on like this?

One week ago all was well. Now the team is 3 games under .500 and the world is ending. This is a 75 win team. No Ryan Zimmerman. Very poor bench. Horrible situational hitting.This is on Rizzo. He got the open checkbook and goes and gets Stairs, Hairston and Cora and Todd Coffey and Gaudin out of all the players available. Trades Nyjer for nothing and Alberto Gonzalez for nothing and Willingham for prospects.Then Rizzo sticks with the guys he signs instead of giving them a quick Bruney treatment. Oh yah, that's right, put them on the DL. HahBixler and Bernadina at least hustle. Nice to see. Since March 29th so many thought you shouldn't keep both Nix and Stairs and should have kept Bernadina. Its a shame when the commentors are right most of the time.Can't wait to read the morning comments.

CBinDC, you have nothing to say. It has been so nice that we have gone months with no mention of the owners. This has nothing to do with the owners. I agree with Unkyd, stop whining. You don't like the Lerners because of some hatred towards them. It is clear. I mean they guaranteed a player $126 million and probably will be extending Zimmerman soon. They have signed Strasburg and Harper and on top of that dropped ticket prices and given more benefits. Heck, I am thrilled with what the owners have done. The correct comments are on the personnel decisions.Espinosa is now lost at the plate and LaRoche is slumping. The problems are on the field, not in the owners box.

Once the bases were loaded, I knew that Riggleman had blown the game.Thanks Jim. Storen should have been in there in the 9th! Burnett hasn't been doing his thing lately, and that should be obvious to you and the pitching coach.If Rizzo isn't really pissed off about this game, then he needs to be DFA'd with Rigglecan!!!!

This is just another case of this team finding a way to lose. The first couple of weeks, we were finding ways to win, but these past 2 series, it's the opposite, which is just what it was like the past few seasons. We were given every chance to win this ballgame. The passed ball, Reyes out at third even though he was clearly not, and we still couldn't pull it out. There's a lot of blame to go around, as there always is after a tough loss, but you could pretty much spread it around wherever you want to (except Gorzo who threw a terrific game). What's more concerting is that the attitude on this team has notably changed from an aggressive, find a way to win type club, to the same old error-prone, mistake-ridden nats. I just hope our "veteran leadership", which has done zilch on the field steps up in the clubhouse tonight and makes some noise.

Wow. We are the fans guys. Why is there so much venom at our own team? They lost. It was ugly. They play again tomorrow. And the next day. They will win and lose again. What does it accomplish to spew $@&! Like this? We do more to help them with positive vibes. Don't take it so personally, and you won't feel as angry. Angry doesn't help you OR them.

Grandstander – It isn't lack of aggressiveness, it is the lack of skilled personnel and clubhouse energy. This is the same problem of early May last year. Guys start slumping and bring the energy level down. That is why you need to make some changes. It took way to long to get Bernadina back and even though Bixler has done nothing, he is fighting for a job which is a positive thing. Cora and Hairston and Stairs etc are here on entitlement.Werth is aggressive. Ankiel has been super aggressive. Cora and Hairston are just over-the-hill guys and don't have the athleticism left to be aggressive. Did you see some of the throws from the left side of the diamond to LaRoche that he had to scoop? Just bad.I think what you think is not being aggressive is the lack of energy in the dugout. Well you got Stairs telling Zuckerman that "he can't hit" and Rizzo should have DFA'd him immediately. That guy is the bad apple in the bunch. Espinosa has changed his tune now also since he is slumping and clearly his mind is slumping too. There are a few bright spots but overall it has been the pitching that is outstanding. I liked the idea when it was suggested in Spring Training and I like it more now to get Detwiler here now for the Bullpen and DFA Slaten. Send Stairs packing PLEASE! Keep Bixler for nothing more than he hustles and plays hard and send Cora packing.Personally, I don't think Rizzo has the guts to do anything and it was his job to DFA Stairs after that interview. I am wondering if Stairs can get to 0-20.

In general the bullpen has been fine. Tonight of course two blown saves in 1 game.However what was much worse was the press with RIggleman. Good grief they threw him nothing but softballs. Burnett faced tough questions,. I wanted questions on the decision making, and they kept asking softballs. I saw Gorzalanny pitched well, I don't need a question on that. I wanted to know after each person making base on Burnett why Storen wasn't brought in. After hit, 1,2,3 Still no Storen. What was the thought process. That is what I wanted to know, and the press didn't ask. We want to know why questions, not what questions,. We see what. We cannot see why.I am glad no one blamed Desi. I saw Bixler couldn't throw the ball home. I bet had Desi did the same play everyone would be complaining that he threw to first.

Manassas Nats Fan: I don't know what they showed from Riggleman's press conference on MASN, but I asked the very first question, asking him why Burnett was used in the ninth instead of Storen. In his answer, Riggleman explained he wanted Burnett to face all the lefties the Mets were sending up there after Bay. There really was no reason to ask a follow-up about why he didn't switch to Storen sooner because he had already answered that off my first question.

Sorry but tonight was down right awful.What a great evening for Baseball once the early storms moved away, yes a little rain in the 5th but on the whole a perfect night. This was my 5th game of the year and the previous 4 I froze my butt off so it was great to have a nice evening at the ballpark.But not very nice that Burnett couldn't hold the game. The way the Nats played perfect baseball to get the run in the 8th only to have the Burnett implosion is beyond words.Question for either Mark or some other bright stat guy.How many times has the Nats had a terrible offensive night in which the starting pitcher gets relieved in the 6th or 7th and the bullpen puts up zeros in allowing runs.But then how many times does the bullpen get into a position to hold on and don't. I bet tonight has been repeated before and the point I want to bring up, the Nats are never going to be good until they first do on a regular basis what they did tonight in the 8th inning and punch out that all-important run.Then the bullpen has to do there job and preserve that 1 run lead for a victory and not imploded like tonight.I long for the Chad Cordero days back from 2005 & '06 which we knew that if the Nats had the lead going into the ninth it was an automatic win. Someone at the Nats has to make that happen to be a good team which we aren't right now.

I've been saying this and saying this, it's all Desmond fault. Everyone has been thinking about him and don't have their minds on the game. They think about him when he's playing 'cause they know he'll screw up, and they think about him when he's away 'cause they know he'll be back. He's the reason they can't hit. He's the reason no one can field. He's the reason for them in their usual last place position. Go Nats!UNTERP

After thinking about this disappointing finish to a pretty good game; Gorzo pitched well, Ramos hit well, defense was "okay", managing was kinda "okay", overall vibe was suspect. Call me crazy but, even after Ramos has played well I want Pudge behind the plate tonight catching Livo to settle things down.